Wednesday, October 23rd - Day 43 - Nara and its amazing deer

 After a good night, we had an early-ish breakfast (around 7am) and beat the crowds - the breakfast room on the first floor of the hotel is nice, but it is too small to accommodate all guests at the same time. We have seen a sign saying it was closed and to try later.  Deb preceded Munroe by about 10 minutes and the host was debating about whether to allow him in!  

Around 11am we left for the Kyoto train station information desk, and got directions to the Kintetsu booking office for tickets. We got those and made the 50 minute or so ride to Nara - or at least we thought we'd gotten there.  It turns out that we got off one stop too soon and we ended up taking a cab (about 3,000 yen - $25 US - to take us to Nara Park.  We were grateful that we didn't try to walk the shortfall - it would have taken at least 2 hours and it was hot (about 80 degrees) and humid.

Nara is famous for its temples - but more so for its wild "baby" deer who roam the streets at will.  Apparently, according to Japanese legend, when a shrine was founded for a dominant aristocratic family in the 8th century, the family invited a mighty God from the Kashima Shrine to come to Nara.  The God, it is said, rode a white deer to the town and since then deer in the city have been seen as divine and protected as shrine messengers by locals.  Until the 1800s, killing a deer in the city was punishable by death.

So we exited the cab when we began to see multitudes of deer wandering among tourists, seeking - and getting - little cookies that are sold in the region precisely for this purpose.  The cookies are quite healthy for the deer, and a part of the proceeds from each 200 yen pack go to the benefit of the deer community.  It was amazing to see how many deer there were - and how tame they had become.  They have even picked up the Japanese tradition of bowing their heads to endear themselves to tourists bearing cookies.  It was hilarious to see this in action!

Before we mingled with the crowd and the deer, we had a nice lunch of udon noodles (our first) in a local cafe - delicious.  

                                                                               

Then we purchased a bundle of cookies and set off for the excitement!

Deb bowing with the deer before rewarding them with a cracker!  You can tell Deb just loved these bowing baby deer!!!

The following video of Deb feeding the deer will give a better sense of their 'politeness'!

https://youtu.be/lgD4fAIqxZM?si=qe4ywZu5xkqX4dDp

Several deer became quite aggressive and persistent when they saw us with crackers - or smelled them!  One nipped Munroe in the back - and the males wanted to head butt you in the rear to get your attention!  We saw some tourists with crackers being swarmed by insistent deer - and it was only then that we saw the warning signs (that are not too plentiful in the area).

                                                                                 

The main temple was right at the end of the shopping street.

There were many groups of schoolchildren, who clearly were having a great time while being VERY well-behaved. Quite astonishing, really.

                                                                   

                                                                                But there were moments....

We had a great visit in all - this was clearly unlike anything we had experienced before.  We were tired when we got on the return train to Kyoto - and once we got back to our room (which the hotel had insisted on cleaning - with new bed linen - towels, brushes, slippers, water are all changed daily here!) we had some snacks and decided we didn't need dinner.  

Munroe bought a little bottle of Suntory whiskey, which turned out to be delicious and very much like a single malt or a higher-end scotch blend.  So he had that as a liquid component of the meal. (Deb: LOL)